Abu reported everything he saw to the duke in detail, and as far as he could see, the young woman who pretended to be the queen could not be treated lightly as a blind cat who had only met a dead mouse, and it was true that she had usurped the throne of Neustria while the royal family was in exile, but the barbarian army that had forced the orthodox royal family into exile seemed to have fought against her, and had suffered in fact, and the heads and captives were shown everywhere, and Abu was one of the people who saw it with his own eyes. He added that, as far as he knew, the citizens of the capital, Aronael, had given her the title of "barbarian destroyer" - at least, as travelers from Aronael to Tournest said. It is difficult to imagine that a woman with such a title can be repelled by a scolding like an ordinary boudoir woman, and it is not to be arrogant to suppose by the inherent impression of the past that when the lion comes home, the monkey will be scared away with only two roars.

"She didn't become queen just because of arrogance and no one in the country, she knew how to fight, and she did have an army loyal to her. And their training and equipment are good, they are not random farmers who are brought in to fill the numbers. This army does not collapse, and she will not willingly return the throne to the rightful king. ”

"Which nobles support her? We want to get the exact name from you in order to persuade them to abandon the woman who did evil. A close confidant of Duke Ulrich asked, and the Duke nodded approvingly. Earlier, a letter had been sent from the Grand Abbey that there was a witch named Baroness Brad who had seduced some people to follow her. By virtue of evil magic, he seized the throne while the country was empty, and the reason why this did not make the duke take it seriously was that the letter did not give a list of powerful nobles behind this young woman. And what is a mere baroness? It was with this in mind that he focused more on his granddaughter's wedding than on dealing with the new government in Neustria.

The news of the defeat of the two counts of Kolomna made him re-examine the letters sent by the Grand Monastery, but they were full of strange things, such as the new government sending literate teachers to the peasants of the whole country, and the selfish motives of the Grand Monastery itself. For example, we don't talk about how many troops the baroness has, but just blindly say that as long as the legitimate royal family returns, the person who pretends to be the queen and her subordinates will fall apart. The mixture of these seemingly untrue narratives and deliberately exaggerated narratives made the Duke and his men understand only one thing, that if they were to rely on this letter as information to go to war, they might as well rely on the guidance of the Holy Book to go to war.

They also questioned a number of pilgrim travelers and merchants. Unfortunately, these people may have been soldiers. But they were in the army orders rather than orders, and they were much more impressed by the new streets than the names of the new courtess, and some could name fifty or more specific clerks, but the duke and the others had not heard anything familiar with them, except for the former Bishop of Tournest, who knew from which family they came from, and who were inextricably linked with the exiled royal family—in short, they still did not know which nobles supported this odious woman. Provide her with armed support. In this way, they will not find an object of persuasion. And they were prepared to use the name of legitimacy, papal pardons, and bribes of money to get the rebellious nobles back to support the orthodox royal family, which was a common method in civil wars, but they could not use it now.

Abu was also pleased with such a wise question, and it was evident that the Duke and his cronies had correctly judged the strength of the enemy, and had not fallen into the kind of arrogance into which he feared them to fall, the kind of arrogance that had turned many kings into jesters: "I am afraid that the adults will not believe me." He said.

"You just have to speak." The Duke was intrigued by his attitude.

"There is no nobleman supporting her." When Abu got permission, he uttered his guess, which caused some laughter among the duke's cronies, how could it be possible for a ruling class composed entirely of commoners? The duke himself did not laugh: "Oh, where did you get this...... What about important intelligence? ”

"When I delivered to Turnest on behalf of my employer...... Abu reported on the situation of the navy which he had inquired about, "they all came from the families of farmers and fishermen, and they chose officers for talent rather than for their fathers, and they said that kings and nobles were born of Adam the tiller and Eve the weaver, so that the officer was the father of the arable land and the weaver mother, and it was as honorable as the father of the duke and the mother of the earl." ”

"It's a big rebellion!" The Duke's cronies were greatly angered by this abominable remark, but the Duke said, "How can she repel the invading northerners if her army is such a fool?" ”

"The foolish people believed her, and they told me that the bishop of Turnest had drawn a talisman for them, so that they were not afraid when they fought, my lord, and the foolish man had brute strength."

"We also have bishops who ask them to draw some for us." The Duke immediately ordered that he could not let his men have doubts in this regard. He then proceeded to inquire about Neustria's situation, "Still, is there really no nobleman behind her?" Perhaps there was a duke or count, who was her lover, or who had been secretly married, and had this woman stand in front of the stage, and he sent troops to support him, didn't you hear the rumors? ”

"I have not heard such rumors, my lordship, what I have heard is that she has commanded all the nobles everywhere not to collect harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and to prohibit roadblocks, and has confiscated the estates of some nobles who have not obeyed her rules, and distributed them to the peasants, and she has given them the land as long as they have cultivated the land and paid taxes in accordance with the rules, and has not set up another lord over their heads—my lord, so have you done with those estates in Neutria, and those of others. Under her rule, the peasants rejoiced, and the nobles—I don't know what they really thought in their hearts, except that there were many descendants of famous families who now depended on their servants and tenants for their livelihood. ”

"It's a perverse act!" The duke's cronies exclaimed, "Is there such a misery in the country now? ”

"I'm afraid so."

"That's our chance," said the Duke of Ulrich, laughing, "and she seems to be so loud that she indulges the ignorant commoners, and does not hesitate to offend the nobles to please them, and she will know how cheap the cheers of the commoners are, and they will change their minds as soon as our army is overwhelmed, unlike the nobles, whose blood is passed down from generation to generation." He confidently said that, unlike ordinary people, the Duke would not simply count the number of troops when calculating the balance of forces between the two sides. He had reigned supreme in Neustria, by force, and knew that if all the nobles of this kingdom were united under the royal banner, his head would have been on his neck! The reason why he was able to run amok in Neustria, because the nobles were intrigued with each other and could not be united, and they were often broken by his concentrated forces! Now, his enemies have foolishly driven all the nobles to his side, and greatly strengthened his strength, and this kind of good thing is really a dream to wake up with laughter!

"That's true." The duke's cronies also frowned, such a short-sighted enemy is destined to not last long! The nobles often have two heads at each other, but the commoners can be subdued by fright! At first, they were afraid that the time for the restoration of the country would be delayed, but now they knew that the people in the country were boiling with resentment, and that the letters of allegiance were sincere, and that when the army of the orthodox royal family entered Neutria, these people would rise up and join the army of the king.

The only thing they don't have to worry about is the rumored devil's ally. To make so many stupid decisions that make people's lives and rely on a so-called army composed entirely of civilians, can still win the war, not by the power of the devil, but by what else? However, unlike Abu, the orthodox Archbishop of Neustria is with them, and he has been personally certified by the Pope himself, and he must rely on the power of the true God to expel the power of the devil entrenched in Neustria!

Archbishop Joseph had already sent a letter of complaint to the Eternal City, but the Pope's pardon had not come for a long time, so the Duke of Ulrich sent another team to the Eternal City to urge, and he invited Abu to join the team, because he had served the Pope's envoy before, and he was not a savage knight who did not understand the rules of the Holy See, and the papal envoy had a good impression of him, so although the duke was not short of manpower, he still paid Abu to join.

Considering that the orthodox royal family in exile had recruited allies and prepared for a great war, Abu did not simply think that he could win on his own, and that his mission here was accomplished; Second, the reason for the Duke of Ulrich is also true, under such a policy, the nobles must be resolutely on the side of the orthodox royal family, they are different from the commoners, they have money, people have equipment, and they are still quite powerful allies if they will pull their teammates back as they used to; Thirdly, since he saw that the orthodox royal family was already actively expanding its armaments and warfare, it would be in vain for him to delay here before the war; Fourth, he wanted to know how well the Lackadians were preparing for war, and he was going to pass them along the way to deliver information on the Neustrian navy - he knew that in the Eternal City, unlike in Neustria, he could find several agents to send information to the Lackadians.

So, he accepted the Duke's invitation to protect the legislatures of the Orthodox royal family and the orthodox archbishop to the Eternal City. (To be continued......)